Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true identity

This past week as I have been trying to get use to the fact that I don't have my braces anymore I've really been thinking about things. As the title of this post states that Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true identity I found this quote online and changed it around to apply to my life. So each week I meet with two girls for an Accountability group. It's great because I am held accountable. Since I have been meeting with these girls I have really been thinking on the Lord and really trying to listen and pay attention to what he is trying to teach me. Well after a two and a half year situation I have finally learned what he was trying to teach me through all the dental work I have had done.

Ever since I got braces in March of 2006 things as far as my perception about myself and the perceptions that other people have about the way I look have been continuously changing. As you all know all the stuff I went through. I have had my feelings hurt many times by people really close to me saying things like:why did you have anything done? when will you look normal again? You don't look anything like yourself. Since I've had surgery I go different places and people don't even recognize me. That is all fine and well. I guess I'm saying this to say that I've taken a lot of heat about having all of this work done. Some people have the opinion I want to be plastic. ( If anyone knows me they know this is not the case)

I get to this point..not only have I changed physically but I have change spiritually. These past couple of days I have really been questioning why did I go through two and a half years of intense dental work. I keep coming up with Destinee you have found your Identity in someone much greater than yourself and the way you look. Wow! As I write this I'm holding back tears because I know this is so true. I have found my true IDENTITY and that is in my SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. This may sound silly or crazy to you but the Lord has used dental work as a way of bringing me back to Him. He has taught me about the things that are important in life...things eternal not external.

My life has changed so much during these two and a half years and so has my walk with the Lord. Before this long process began I was so consumed with the way I looked and the way people looked at me and what they thought. After I had surgery when my cheeks looked like I had stuck cantaloupes in both sides, people started getting to know me for me. If you would have ask me in March of 2006 about what I thought my life would be like now I would have told you something totally different then what I'm living now. God's sovereignty is so amazing. We start out with a certain motive or intention and he uses that situation whatever it might be( my case dental work) to get our attention and bring us back to HIM.

So as I reflect back on the past and I look forward I can stand firm and assured that my identity rest in the hands of my Sovereign and Merciful King and not on the mere basis of what I look like.